Koan

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A Kōan ( Japanese 公案 ; Chinese  公案 , Pinyin gōng'àn , W.-G. kung-an  - "public notice"; Hgl. 공안, gong-an ; other common transcriptions from Korean: Kung-an , Kungan ; viet. công án ) is in Chinese Chan - or Japanese Zen - Buddhism a short anecdote or sentence that represents an exemplary action or statement by a Zen master, and very rarely also a Zen student.

The course and punch lines of these special anecdotes usually seem completely paradoxical , incomprehensible or pointless to the layperson . As a result, the term Kōan is sometimes incorrectly applied to other nonsensical short stories.

The forerunners of the Kōans were famous questions and answers between master and disciple during the early Tang and Song period , fragments of some Buddhist sutras , meaningful speeches by Chan masters, and anecdotes about these masters. Despite their superficial unreasonableness and senselessness, they have a historical core that is also intellectually understandable and expresses aspects of the Chan philosophy. In Chan and Zen, kōans are used as objects of meditation .

The best-known koan, which has now become common knowledge in the West as well, is the question of the sound of a single clapping hand ( Hakuin's Sekishu , by Master Hakuin Ekaku ).

interpretation

Kōans can often be interpreted using rational methods . With some kōans, it is expected that the Zen student will find the right solution through deliberation. For most koans all rational solutions of koans considered false. The real meaning of these kōans, their essential function, can only be understood intuitively , without words . There are various views on the meaning of Kōans within Rinzai Zen : While Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki uses a contradicting Sokuhi logic, Ruth Fuller-Sasaki claims the “fullness of meaning” of Kōans.

The goal of kōan practice is the realization of non-duality . The illusion that things are different and that the ego has an existence of its own, separated from the rest , should dissolve in the practice with the kōan.

The Zen student is given a specific kōan that suits his maturity (e.g. the kōan mu: a monk asked Joshu (Chinese: Zhaozhou ): "Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?" Joshu replied: " Mu ! "). The interviewee should present this kōan to the master in a personal conversation ( dokusan ) in order to show that he has grasped the true content of the kōan during meditation . Novices and monks have to master a series of koans. In order to determine whether this has actually succeeded, the student is asked to find a suitable keyword (jakugo) for the corresponding kōan . Depending on the temple affiliation, the order of the kōans to be mastered including the associated jakugo is determined. Over the centuries this “curriculum” has solidified. As an inner experience , this realization is not to be confused with an understanding of the problem. It is not an interpretation of the koan or an explanation . This happens occasionally in the Teishō . The individual insight of the student would often seem even more meaningless to the layman than the kōan itself. Based on the reaction of the student to the kōan, the experienced master can recognize whether the student is making progress on the path of Zen, or whether he is in illusion and error persists. The Zen master's written or oral comments on a kōan are called agyō (words granted) .

This method of practice and testing is mainly used in the Rinzai direction of Zen.

There are five "classes" of kōans that serve different functions.

  1. Hosshin-Kōans (hosshin: Japanese for Dharmakaya, Trikaya ), are Kōans that help the student to break through to the awakened view and help him to become at home in the world of the true being, the Buddha-nature (Bussho) . The Hosshin-Kōans are about the world of "non-difference" (not clinging, not evaluating), but the student must not stop at this level of experience.
  2. The Kikan-Kōans (kikan: Japanese "auxiliary, tool") should train the student's ability to distinguish in non-difference. Here the teaching of non-adherence and non-judgment is intensified.
  3. The Gonsen-Kōans (gonsen: Japanese "clarification of words") are about the deepest meaning and content of the utterances and formulations of the old masters, which lie beyond lexical definition and conceptual "representation". It goes beyond the concept of etymology .
  4. The Nanto-Kōans (nanto: Japanese "difficult to pass") are those kōans that are particularly difficult to solve.
  5. Once the student has mastered the various kōans of grades 1 to 4, then with the Go-i, the five degrees (of enlightenment), his understanding of truth is thoroughly examined and put to the test.

Collections

The best-known - originally Chinese - Kōan collections are the Bi-Yan-Lu (Hekiganroku - The Writing of the Emerald Cliff), compiled by Xuedou Zhongxian / Setchō Jūken and published in 1128 by Yuanwu Keqin / Engo Kokugon, the Congronglu (Shōyōroku - The Book of Equanimity), compiled by Hongzhi Zhengjue / Wanshi Shōgaku and published in 1224 with comments by Wansong Xingxiu / Banshō Gyōshu and the Wumenguan (Mumonkan - The goalless barrier) collected by the Zen master Wumenon Huikai Ekai (1181-1260).

For example, the 18th Kōan of Mumonkan reads (quoted from the translation by Koun Yamada, see reference):

“A monk asked Tozan, 'What is Buddha ?' Tozan replied: Masagin ( 麻 三斤 - three pounds of flax). "

Added a comment Mumons:

“Old Tozan learned a little shell Zen. By opening the two shell halves a little, he showed his liver and entrails. That may be so. But you tell me: Where do you see the Tozan? "

as well as a verse:

“Masagin pops out!
Words are familiar, the mind is even more familiar.
Whoever talks about
right and wrong is a person of right and wrong. "

The view of Zen becomes clear here that terms and concepts are useless in existential questions. In a self-referential way, this is even true of the teachings of Buddhism and Zen themselves.

literature

  • Bi Yan Lu. Translated and explained by Wilhelm Gundert . 3 vols. Hanser, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-446-14946-5 .
  • Kidô Chigu: Kidôgoroku. 100 kon. Angkor Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-936018-99-8 . PDF
  • Thomas Cleary (Ed.): The moon shines on all doors. Zen aphorisms by great masters about the art of living out of inner freedom. Barth, Bern 1992, ISBN 3-502-64111-0 .
  • Imai Fukuzan: The Samurai's Zen Path (Shônan Kattôroku) . Angkor Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010. E-Book (Kindle).
  • Master Hakuin: Authentic Zen. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-596-13333-5 .
  • Thich Nhat Hanh : Key to Zen . 3. Edition. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2003, ISBN 3-451-05335-7 .
  • Sabine Hübner: The Goalless Gate. Teisho on the 48 Kōan of Mumonkan. Kristkeitz, 2nd edition Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-932337-00-0 .
  • Keizan Jokin: Denkôroku. The transmission of the light. Angkor Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-93601808-0 .
  • Dietrich Roloff: CONG-RONG-LU - Notes from the hermitage of serenity. The 100 Kôan des Shôyôroku. Windpferd Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-89385-571-1 .
  • Seung Sahn : The whole world is one flower. 365 zen kōans for every day. Johannes Herrmann Verlag, Giessen 2008, ISBN 978-3-937983-13-4 .
  • Ernst Schwarz (ed. And ex.): Bi-yän-lu, records of the master of the blue rock - Kōan collection. Kösel, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-466-20443-7 .
  • Daisetz T. Suzuki: The Zen-Koan. Path to enlightenment. Herder, Freiburg i.Br. 1996, ISBN 3-451-04452-8 .
  • Janwillem van de Wetering : The Koan and other Zen stories. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-499-60270-9 .
  • Koun Yamada: Mumonkan. Kösel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-466-20308-2 .
  • Zenrin R. Lewis (ed.): The Zen forest. Koan responses from the Zenrin kushu. Chinese-German. ISBN 978-3936018-28-8 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Joshu (his name) Osho (priest) chinami ni (someone comes to him) so (monk) to (asks) kushi (dog) ni (after, after the dog) kaette (maybe) Bussho (Buddha nature) ari ya (has ?) mata (or) inai ya (has not?) Joshu (name) iwaku (answers) Mu (nothing, the void, complete absence of everything)